The Balance in my Soul
by Dantes-Silent-Huntress
Summary: In the ideal world she would have trained to be a summoner, but instead, at 22, she won a competition to become a summoner. Mentoring under Shen, the Eye of Twilight, the pair begin to rise to fame, whilst Harmony becomes firm friends with all around. However, as always, Zed hides behind the scenes waiting for his chance to end the Kinkou ninjas and Harmony might just be his way.
1. Chapter 1

**This is the first time I've written in a while, trying to take my mind of another of my focus that I just can't seem to finish! It's also my first league of Legends writing and I hope it will go okay, since I've been into the game since last October. Please review, I love to know what bits you like, what you don't, constructive criticism and love for it. Thank you!**

Two other women stood with me here in this quiet wonderful looking cottage. As I stood by the window, I wondered what had brought them here, was it the same short handed note that had been posted through my door a few days before? It had only read the address of where we were currently - a small part on the edge of the Institute of Wars massive amount of land. The cottage sat on a picturesque cliff side, surrounded by a garden in full bloom, with a patios that sat looking out onto the scenic lake. On the other side of the lake sat the main building, mostly glass and towering over the rest of the valley like area. People played on the beach next to it, mere ants to my eyes. This place was a picture of paradise.

I wandered the house, from the large, living room that would fit happily in a woodland hideaway, rug covering the natural wooden floors and a fireplace burning logs almost four foot wide, combatting the first chills that were creeping in with the golden leaves. Autumn was my favourite time of year, but so with it brought the promises of winter. I was most stunned by the glass panels that took over some of the floor. Underneath those panels flowed a small creek, as clear as the glass above, with golden fish idly swimming through. Averting my eyes from the fish, I looked to the kitchen, a very modern build, shiny and black, set just off the living room so you could continue your polite conversation whilst making dinner for your guests, or you could watch the large television above the fire whilst firing up some sausages for breakfast. Just my kind of cosy life. Glasses sat, upturned on the kitchen bar area, offering a drink if we wished, however, nobody had taken one as of yet.

No doubt the bedroom and bathroom were just as flashy, though I dared not leave the room in case our oh-so gracious hosts arrived, who were, in fact, running half an hour late. In our awkward silence, one of the women turned to us, she was a beautiful middle aged woman who had kept her youth about her, wearing it like a fine cloak. Her hair was shimmering ebony down her back, her eyes the colour of molten chocolate. However, she seemed unfriendly - schemes roiled behind those eyes like a pit of venomous snakes. When she spoke, her voice was like ringing bells, too much of a young girl voice to fit the body.

"So," she began, glancing between us, "How did you end up being invited to this prestigious place to become a summoner?"

The other girl I was with, a short slim blonde with bright blue eyes, shuffled, blowing her fringe out of the way so we could see her shining eyes, a grin on her face.

"I'm Izzy, and my uncle is a high summoner. He doesn't control the champions anymore though, he just helps with the magic involved. He asked if I would like to join since they had some space, and I was always a little magically gifted."

Izzy seemed genuine, a bit dopey perhaps, but very sweet.

"I'm Harmony, and I won this in a competition," I answered, smiling back at Izzy, although I'm sure I looked less than graceful with dark blue eyes flecked with grey, darker blonde hair streaked with gold and brown alike. I was a mix mash of the two others it seemed. Still grinning, Izzy congratulated me on wining such an awesome prize, but the witch face just looked perplexed and shocked.

"How could someone like you," She spat it like it was a bad taste in her mouth, "Get to be here? I've worked my entire life! My whole life! To get one shot at being here, and even then I had to persuade them to let me in!"

"Simple, I put my name down to win, was selected from the many millions who entered with a few others and asked to test my magic capabilities. Apparently I'm not as null as I thought I was," Null was a term in Runeterra for the ones who had no power with magic, they just couldn't use it, no matter how hard they tried, those that forced their bodies to accept magic often destroyed themselves in the process. However, witch face did not seem impressed at all, I was neither a prodigy or worker, I was just here, and here was where I was staying, regardless of what she thought.

"Another layabout who has no business here!" She scoffed, nose in the air, turning from us, "If you do so happen to be in, who will your mentor be? Urgot presumably, looking at you?" Although I was not the thinnest, neither did I have any fat on me. I was a security guard for a bar before I won the competition, so fat I was most definitely not. Ugly, I believed not either. I thought I was at least above average for the normal 22 year old. Fit, healthy and possibly a new job to beat the rest.

"Poor Urgot," She continued, "I however, Lady Elsbeth Norrigan will have a classy champion, somebody like Vayne, somebody worthy of my control."

Wow. These were other people, other sentient creatures she was talking about here. I wondered how Vayne would feel about this awful Lady whats-her-face.

"Well, at least I didn't get here from laying about anyway, at least not the way you seemed to be," Snapping back at her, I wish I had kept my mouth closed instead as her face became furious, eyes hardening to almost black. For a moment I could not tell if she was going to scream, or attack or both. In a split second she had went from motionless to a completely different creature, flying at me, spitting cruel words and neatly manicured claws curled. My face was first as she dug in, scratching down my cheek and eye, leaving a bloody gouge, then my arms and almost any other bare skin she could reach. Izzy was at a loss of what to do it seemed, eyes wide and panicking as she darted from room to room, clearly trying to find something to fix the situation, or at least try to help. Jerking my knee upwards, I felt it collide sharply with her stomach, winding her and giving me the advantage, wriggling free of her talon like nails and pushing her to the floor away from me. Touching a hand to my face, I came away with Crimson trailing down my fingers. _What a shame_ , I thought, as it dripped to the floor, smudging the glass that the fish swam under.

Hoping that it was over, I hurried quickly to the bathroom, splashing water over my injured face. It stung like a bitch, and left me with raw flesh down my face, she had nearly skinned me from forehead to chin down the left side. Ouch. At least at the institutes healers were skilled in their work and it would probably never scar. Leaving the bathroom, my hopes for no more fighting were dashed horribly as the beast went for me again; more prepared this time, I dropped to my back and used her own motion to toss her over the top of me to the end of the room, but still she did not quit! Bouncing to my feet, I was shocked to see a glint of silver as she came at me! Crazy witch what did she think she was doing, I had no way to stop a knife! As she charged at me, a film of purple enveloped me, and when she touched it, she bounced, like she was on a bungee cord. The knife went flying out the window and into the lake and she was sent back to the ground with a bruised ego, and presumably now, a bruised backside.

The shield pulsed around me like a life form of its own, though when I reached to touch it, it rippled under my hands like the surface of water, coming alive. Jerking backwards, I fell to the floor, scurrying away from it, even though it followed. I crashed into something hard behind me and just like that, the bubble around me popped like it was nothing more than a soap bubble that had not deflected a full grown woman with a blade a moment before. Sighing in relief, I glanced back to what I had crashed into - a pair of legs. Without noticing that Izzy had joined us back in the main room, I followed the legs up to a long piece of cloth hanging from a belt, the top half was clad in velvety soft navy fabric as the legs were. Glancing back down at me was a pair of icy blue eyes, the pupil almost invisible, iced over like the rest of the eye and for a second, I pondered if he was blind, but the staring gaze was just too precise. He seemed unimpressed under the mask that covered his face, only his eyes, looking both bored, and emotionless at the same time, were bare to the world.

"I'm going to go to the high summoner about you!" the witch snapped, stumbling to her feet and giving herself a dust down. How she had not been injured was beyond me, or perhaps her pride was greater than I imagined. "This is a disgrace the way i have been treated in my hour here! I demand to see a high summoner! I demand compensation!"

Mister Ninja gave her the same look, but perhaps accompanied by a raised eyebrow. He seemed vaguely amused by her ranting, then turned to me again and stretched a hand out.

"I am Shen, the Eye of Twilight..." He was interrupted by a sound that should never leave a grown woman's lips, a kind of, squee of joy. Taking the offered hand, I allowed him to pull me to my feet; he was solid, his hand warm and strong beneath my fingers as he lifted me as though I weighed nothing. Standing at chest height to him, I wouldn't lie that I couldn't help staring at him. He had a well chiselled jawline beneath the mask, high cheekbones and the most wonderful eyes. Blushing, I glanced away, looking towards Elsbeth, who stood, staring at him like she was a dog ogling a large piece of meat.

"How did you get here?" She breathed. Izzy and I exchanged bemused glances, though I was nearly as infatuated as the witch it seemed.

He spoke again, voice deep, rumbling through his chest, a very even tone. "I... Teleported." It sounded like the most obvious thing In the world as he said it. She looked flabbergasted at the thought of somebody teleporting to your precise location.

"Thank you Shen, I appreciate you preventing me from ending up in hospital for more time than I need to," smiling up at him, he tilted his head to the side, obviously enquiringly as to what I meant. The way he moved caused the light to catch the metal plate on his head, lighting it up like a fallen star resting on his forehead.

"She came at me with a knife before you got here, I would have been seriously injured if not for you, so thank you, also for picking me up. Suppose I better thank you for that too, just to balance the books," I realised I was babbling and quickly stopped.

His blue eyes flashed with what seemed like a smile, and his shoulders vibrated in an almost unnoticeable way - he was laughing at me. That quickly halted dead as somebody strode in behind him, heels clicking, green material fluttering. She was beautiful; thin, lithely muscled, everything that most women would love to be.

Akali. She was world famous, a ninja of the Kinkou. Shen was another, although I didn't know much until recently, when I found out I had won and run to the nearest library to look for envy thing I could on as many of the champions as I could. She patted Shen lightly on the shoulder and moved up next to him, and therefore next to me. Extending my hand, I shook hers, introducing myself.

"Hi, I'm Harmony, you must be Akali, I've hear and read so much about you, it's an honour."

The female ninja laughed, then looked to her partner, "You keep an eye on this one Shen, you two will be a force to be reckoned with," He seemed to catch her meaning and nodded in a quick minuscule movement. Akali then turned to the other women in the room, her face became stern as she looked to Elsbeth, who stood with eyes wide, awaiting her judgement. Apparently these two had been chosen to judge the new summoner and pick who would join them and who would not.

"You," she called with authority and Elsbeth cowered slightly, obviously meeting her match in Akali although the ninja was years younger, "You will never be a summoner. Summoners demand equilibrium, a balanced relationship between summoner and their chosen champion, you could never have that. Your temper gets the best of you, holds your full potential back. To become a successful summoner, you must be calm, able to concentrate in the hardest, toughest environment and judge situations accurately and

be able to retaliate. If you were able to do that, you would have realised after the first moments of your fight that Harmony perhaps had some idea what she was doing and you did not. You would not be able to forge the bond that we do with our Summoners. We trust you with our lives and expect the same. I must ask you to leave and return when you have had more training. Perhaps then we will reconsider if there is a free champion who requires you."

The room was silent. A breath was like a gunshot. Elsbeth had been shot down. Her dreams and ambitions smashed to pieces. I was awestruck, never had I seen such fury before, and for a moment I believed she would try to take Akali on, but perhaps she was a smarter woman. She proved the latter as she rose to her feet, storming out the door. Her rage was accompanied by tyres kicking gravel up as she sped away, down the drive, presumably to mope.

She turned to me next, glancing back to Izzy, then back to me.

"Now that's over, welcome to the League of Legends, ladies." That's it, I was in. A whole new road lay ahead of me, and as my gaze flicked to Shen, I wondered how far we could go.


	2. The art of making friends

After the amazing realisation that I was going to be a summoner, we had a small drink to celebrate. A small drink of Coke, that is, as I reserved drinking to when I wasn't going to be made an idiot in front of my new colleagues. Shen had disappeared a while back, not telling anybody where he was going and giving a tiny nod to Akali before he left, she seemed to understand, and I passed it off as he had other things to do rather than babysit the newbies. We sat patiently as Akali explained to us what was expected of us, and how our timetables were planned out from now on.

"First up, you'll have a tour today, just to let you get to know the place, meet the champions or at least a few of them, perhaps later if some of them are free, we can have a small lesson in controlling them out on the field, but I'll leave that to whoever you get," she smiled at us as she finished, and took us outside. My mouth dropped as Shen stood, two massive horses on either side of him; one was the colour of fresh snow, and the other was the colour of an evening sunset, almost pure red all over.

"This is Cavalier, I have... Borrowed him from Xin Zhao to allow you to get around. There is no roads for other means of transport, unless you'd like to take a leisurely blimp ride, but it would take a few hours to get there. These are the quickest way until you learn to use the summoner spells."

Izzy seemed cautious, but I recalled my days of professional riding, not too many years ago, before I became a security guard. My family had always owned horses on their quiet little farm in Ionia. My first horse was a big black brute named Cheeky, who had broken more bones than any drunken bar patron I had tackled to the ground. Needless to say, after taking a break and buying a shiny new horse, I became a local star for my jumping. Approaching the stunning beast, I raised my hand to let him sniff it, his delicate, velvety muzzle resting on my fist, snuffling slightly.

"He's beautiful," I grinned at Shen, taking the reins from him and easily hoisting myself high in the saddle. Up here I was on top of the world, towering high above everyone, and a feeling of peace washed through me, muscle memory setting in and adjusting my position.

"Xin prides himself on his steed, he is an excellent horse man and often spends his time lounging around the stables." With that, he boosted Izzy quickly into the saddle, where she sat uncomfortably, but well. She had clearly also ridden before, but was nervous. Shen pointed to the largest building of the group down next to the lake and confirmed that we were headed there. He quickly showed me which direction to ride and we set off, waving goodbye to the ninjas. They were left behind quickly in the dust churned up by hooves clopping on the road. Heaven to my ears.

As we rode, I made conversation with Izzy. I wanted to know my new friend and colleague, so we chatted. She was from a small village west of Piltover, spent most of her life helping her father in his workshop, tinkering with bits and pieces that had been left. She was only 20, 2 years younger than me, but had traveled so far, including to the Freljord to see Queen Ashe. When she asked in return, I told her what I could. About being born in Ionia, how my father and mother split at an early age - she gave her sympathy. To which I thanked her and told her it was not necessary, I was too young to remember. My father remarried a few times, had my younger brother and then began focusing more on his work on the farm. I lived with him most of my life, with the farm, the horses; every day attending to the animals and the crops, ensuring we were stocked on everything we needed and travelling to the nearby villages with a horse and cart to sell milk, fresh eggs, even fish we had caught freshly that morning in the lake on the farm. Izzy listened intently, nodding here and there, asking questions; I answered the best I could for her. Having never been to Ionia, she asked me about the festivals and I told her honestly that I had never been to one, my family preferred the quiet of the farm, surrounded by rolling hills and gentle valleys rather than the mishmash of people crammed into the space of the festivals. After about an hour of talking and riding, we were nearly there, just a spate of open fields to go until we were there. Giving my mount a squeeze, I urged him on and he responded in kind, launching himself off his haunches like a trained warhorse and flying into the fields at a mad gallop. I was still laughing as I screamed behind me.

"Catch me if you can!" And Izzy urged her horse into a gallop as well, flying after me with mane and tail streaming like fresh linen behind her. We were far ahead, and as we moved through the field, I noted a rather large tree had fallen to the ground, fitting for a perfect make-shift jump and as I turned Cavalier to it, he took it in his stride,easily flying over it and continuing on towards the Institute.

We were still breathless and giggling from the exertion when we dismounted with legs like jelly outside the institutes grand front doors, open to allow the fresh air to blow in the doors. Next to the doors stood a rather tall, unimpressed looking man. He was beautiful golden armour, decorated in blue jewels. When Cavalier noticed him, his head raised high and he neither out a greeting. Obviously this was Xin Zhao. He was none too pleased to see his prize destrier in the hands of somebody he did not know, nor trust. He clapped the horse on the neck, taking the reins from me, and leading him off, collecting Izzys horse on the way. He turned to me before smiling. It brightened his face substantially and I had the feeling he didn't do it often.

"I thank you for looking after him. Maybe I will see you at the stables later?" I nodded an affirmative and turned to head into the building. Xin seemed slightly frosty at first, but I suppose who done good for him, was done good by him and I turned my head to watch him leave again before heading into the building. Akali met us at the door, looking impatient. She shuffled us away, towards what looked like a lunch hall. The noise hit us when we entered the vast room, tables lined up and champions sitting wherever they could. A dog man was just leaving as we entered, decked in armour; he reminded me of the tales my father would tell to get us to bed, of the ancient city of Shurima and the great ruler Azir. It was a story he told fondly and often.

"That is Nasus, he's the librarian here, you'll get to know him well," Akali added, noticing my interest. As we moved along to the cafe, she pointed out various others, of all shapes and sizes. Zac, the strange green blob was sitting at the corner of the room, chatting to an older looking bald man, who had his face bandaged like he had been severely injured. Singed, I think his name was. So many names, so many new faces in front of me to learn, faces that I would have to know sooner or later since I was here. Upon buying some food, we sat at a quieter table so Akali could speak to us without raising her voice.

"Welcome to the main building, this is the main hub of everything. There no fighting allowed here, so if you have a dislike, you leave it at the door." She pointed to two very large, very heavily armoured men, one bearing the blue and gold of Damacia, the other on black and blood red of Noxus. A friendly - or not so friendly - arm wrestling match was going on in here, with supports standing around them. Muscles were straining, veins pulsing on foreheads. You could see the sweat on them. Akali laughed.

"They've been stuck like that for hours now, never moving. That's Garen and Darius there, two sides of the same coin." She turned back to us and continued, "Harmony, you already know where your house is, Izzy, you stay in the Summoners quarters, not too far from her."

"What!?" I nearly spat my sandwich out, "That cottage is my house? How come? How does Izzy have get to have a house of her own?" Questions pounded through my mind, each one thinking of a hundred answers.

"For a start, you are two different kind of summoner. You, Harmony, obviously did not read the small print of your competition winning," I had the courtesy to look ashamed, "You are a bound summoner, you forge a bond with a particular champion, they mentor you and in return, they are almost 'your' champion, hence Shen and you are bound as such now. However, Izzy is a free summoner, every week we have a rotation schedule of champions who can be used by anybody for that week, so Izzy works with them. She doesn't have quite the same relationship with them, but she gets to try out a lot of different styles. This means that although she might shoot ahead in training, she will never be able to handle Shen as well as you will. Both in and out of the field." She paused here to munch on some chips and think about what else she had to tell us, pointing to a young man who stood next to Garen. His eager, attentive eyes were on the Damacian as he cheered and whooped for him, booing at the Noxian supporters.

"You will never be the same summoner as him. Garen is a warrior at heart, with a warriors spirit, so it takes one to know one. Jordan is loud, bold and exceptionally brave, so those two matched up easily, another bound summoner like you. Shen is a... Different story. Entirely," Akali pondered her words carefully, trying to describe her friend, "He was taught to be emotionless from a young age, but you've already seen a lot more of him than anyone else has, jeez, you got a shoulder wobble. That's more than most," Snorting, she continued, "Shen needs balance to use his full potential, balance between offence and defence, and also balance in behaviour. Don't bring negativity into the summoning room, that counts for both of you."

I was sure she would have continued of not for a roar that shook the very foundations of the building. It was a terrifying sound, like a dinosaur from times long forgotten. The room quiet ended for a split second then returned to previous volume once more, as if nothing had happened at all. The arm wrestling had not budged one bit, conversations continued and so did the eating. Nothing to suggest any strange activity. We looked at each other, confused and frightened, then to Akali, who seemed gloomier after the sound.

"What was that?"

"That was Renekton. He is Nasus' brother, reptilian, like a very large, angry crocodile. He was in an unfortunate accident long ago that led to his insanity and the need to kill Nasus. However, he has the occasional day where his madness leaves him and he is allowed out. He remembers nothing of the madness, but understands when we lock him up once more. It's heartbreaking to see Nasus reunited with his brother, then torn away from him again."

Quickly changing the subject, I let my curiosity get the better of me. "So this, umm, bound summoner thing, it's not like romantic is it?" My face flared red when I realised I sounded like a teenage girl - something I grew out of three long years ago. "I just wondered is all."

Akali looked to Jordan and Garen, "So you think those two are together, oh god no. Garen has a girlfriend of his own, but she's currently lurking about elsewhere. The relationship doesn't have to be romantic or anything like that, it's a... Different kind of knowing someone I guess." A mischievous look passed her face and she grinned at me, "Feel free to try though, trust me, I have. Shen's got a heart of stone. A heart like a ninja should have. Though he means good. If he doesn't return your advances, don't worry about it. I guess it would relax him a little, I don't think he's used that thing in like, ever." It took me a minute to figure out what she was referring to before I flamed up again. _Oh god._ Another teenage girl moment, but I giggled anyway.

An hour later saw me with a spherical ball in my hands, shimmering and glowing. It hovered an inch or so from my skin. A chill seeped through it currently, but I was told that as I used it, the friction would heat it up, even though it never touched my skin. Magic friction, they called it. As the bell rung for the beginning of the summoning, I was twisted into a strange world. I was looking at Shen from a birds eye view, though I had no physical body there. I could still feel the ball in my hands, but the rest of me was elsewhere. I had been given no instruction, no words, just a simple ' _begin'_ and left to my own devices. Slowly shimmying a hand, I watched the ninja begin to shuffle forward and when I was a little more sure of myself, I let myself move him full speed. Pressing a middle finger in closer to the sphere, a shield popped up around Shen. Hmm is that how it worked? I experimentally pressed other fingers, watching him dash and shield, also aiming his blade. Fully aware of what I was doing, I roamed the map, which consisted of three lanes and a jungle area, split up into camps of monsters.

Izzy had volunteered to verse me, Akali agreeing to be the test subject, so I ran up the middle lane, expecting to see a flash of green.

 _When you see her, shield me, dash and then blade,_ Shen advised, his voice ringing clear within my head. However, Akali had different ideas. A green circle was on the ground, magic pulsing through it. I could feel a warning in my mind, Shen was cautious. Perhaps more cautious than me, who crept slowly towards the circle, hands tense... There, Akali lept from the circle and I used Shen's dash to shoot away from here, leaving her without her precious cover. Throwing a blade, I watched it hit and leave a floating symbol of the sword above her head.

 _When I attack her now, I regain health from it, but don't worry about that now, this is practise._

Taking his advice, I ran for her, hit once, twice, then retreated to the relative safety of my turret. This went on for ten minutes or so, taking pot shots at one another until she managed to ambush me and Shen went down.

"Shen?! SHEN. Are you okay? Answer me?" I had never felt anything like this... This... Tugging in my head, like an awful migraine, then drained of energy, and then... Just like he disappeared, so he was back, fully rejuvenated and well once more.

 _I am fine, do not be alarmed, that is what happens when I am defeated._

Reassuring... Of course I balanced the odds after this. Akali ended up losing to us and when we had left the Summoners room and I had rested - after all, it was horrible feeling somebody die under your control, even if they did come back - Shen had a glint in his eye.

"You haven't beaten me quite so badly since we were kids Shen," Akali laughed as we left. Shen was silent, Izzy on the other hand, was not. She had that big silly smile on her face, telling me how great I had done although she had been beaten. Graceful in defeat as ever it seemed. As we started to peel off to go home, Akali hovered by me, smiling.

"Thank you Harmony, I haven't seen him like that for a while, and you stuck wit what he said. He's proud of you, you know. Now go on, get some sleep. Jayce will take you to your flat to get your clothes in the morning." Just like that, she was gone in the night, the darkness creeping around me. She had walked me to the door anyway, and handed me the set of keys. Immaculate inside, I wandered to the bedroom to find a pair of plain cotton pyjamas set out for me, changed into them and left my clothes in the hamper. Clambering into bed, I thought about the day, the new people I had met and the days ahead of me. The duvets sunk me into a deep sleep as I dreamed of the possibilities.


End file.
